Keep It to Yourself: Next Generation Firewalls

The past few years have seen more frequent and sophisticated cyberattacks – exposing intellectual property, classified data and threatening the economic viability of entire countries. Protecting networks has become more complicated as iPads, smartphones are commonplace in the workplace as well as Web applications like Dropbox and Salesforce – all common entry points for hackers.

Firewalls work to keep malware from getting into a network, and prevent sensitive data from getting out. But traditional firewall software often uses “stateful inspection” which specifies the kinds of data packets it will accept or drop – it’s all either “good” or “bad.” As a result, organizations that depend on Web applications – like Skype or GoogleDocs – must make a difficult decision. Block those apps to ensure security, or use them and roll the cybersecurity dice.

Palo Alto’s next-generation firewall offers a solution. It can parse all the components of a Web application to selectively allow, for instance, users to read Twitter feeds but not tweet, read Facebook newsfeeds, but not post, or share Dropbox documents without concerns about malware.

Palo Alto Networks offers a full line of next-generation security appliances that range from the PA-200, designed for enterprise remote offices, to the PA-7050, which is a modular chassis designed for high-speed datacenters. Platform architecture is based on our single-pass software engine and uses function-specific processing for networking, security, threat prevention, and management to deliver predictable performance. The same firewall functionality that is delivered in the hardware appliances is also available in the VM-Series virtual firewall, allowing you to secure your virtualized and cloud-based computing environments using the same policies applied to your perimeter or remote office firewalls.